Ancestry.com weighs sale, seeks buyers -Bloomberg

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

June 5 (Reuters) - Family-history research website Ancestry.com Inc is thinking of putting itself up on the block and is working with Frank Quattrone’s Qatalyst Partners to find buyers, Bloomberg news reported, citing a person with knowledge of the situation.

The Provo, Utah-based company which operates a website that allows people to trace their family roots by scouring online records, will probably attract interest from private-equity firms, Bloomberg quoted the person as saying.

Last month, U.S. network NBC decided not renew the company’s TV show for a fourth season, causing a slump its share price.

The show, based on the idea of tracing celebrities’ family history through Ancestry.com’s databases, has been considered a major driver of new subscriber additions for the website.

Ancestry.com, which went public in 2009, has a market valuation of $964.4 million based on Tuesday’s closing share price, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The company had 1.87 million subscribers as of March 31.

Ancestry.com and Qatalyst Partners could not be immediately reached for comment outside U.S. business hours.